I need to say a huge thank you for supporting me with my previous campaign. It was for the best as I found a much better deal at Smashwords, on which I can earn higher royalties. Please send this email to your group of friends that helped me to compete for the vote.
My two books, SOME PICNIC! and Rough Diamonds, have been published as multi-format ebooks by Smashwords.
Smashwords was started in May, 2008 and has grown to become the leading ebook distributor in the world serving Indie authors, small presses and literary agents. Over 120,000 authors and small independent presses from around the globe publish and distribute over 440,000 books with Smashwords.
South Africa. Where it all began in the sixties and seventies.
Taking part in my first year. There were five classes: V, W, X, Y and Z. I was racing in Class Z. It was a twelve lap race and I won my class. The pic was taken in 1976 at Clubhouse Corner at Kyalami outside Johannesburg, South Africa. The track has been changed but Clubhouse is still there.
WRITING MY WAY TO LE MANS 24hrs 2018
What makes me somewhat different to other writers, I'd had a massive stroke in 2011. My stroke left me totally paralyzed on the entire right hand side of my body. But, that was then. I’m slowly, very slowly, recovering.
My books SOME PICNIC! and Rough Diamonds, which I've just completed (actually, I've been writing the fiction since 1995...), are going to fund my dream to return to motor racing. I'll return to the race tracks, the dream to take part in Le Mans 24 hours in France in 2018, the greatest sports car race in the world. I attended the race in 2016, and it was phenomenal, mind-blowing! I was joining over 500,000 people watching the race. (I raced in South Africa in the seventies).
I'll be competing with the racing car emblazoned (shown below) with the bright, unmistakeable colours of the cover of Rough Diamonds. I'll recognize my backers on the car and through an intensive campaign. I feel it'll also make a great film, so I'm looking at that as well.
My teacher passed by my desk, and noticing drawings of twisting, turning squiggles. She was just fresh out of Varsity.
"What are those?" she asked.
I wasn't sure that was menace in her voice. Or inquisitiveness. "They are..." I was not sure what I should answer. "..um, racing tracks."
She responded with a curt: "You're not supposed to be drawing. This is an English class. Pay attention, please."
I remember her from getting lessons from her at the swimming pool. I was in the water and she was on the side, dressed in a flimsy dress. As she demonstrated very animatedly how I should turn when I got to the end of the pool, I naughtily looked with fascination as she gave me brief glimpses of her underwear. I was not yet in my teens.
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When I was in my very early twenties, I remember meeting a group of drivers and their mechanics at about three am in the middle of the night on the outskirts of Johannesburg. It was my first time doing this, as I was new to motor racing. It was early February and the temperature was close to 70F/20C. (It's summer in the Southern Hemisphere).
We needed to drive to Cape Town, more than 1,000 miles/1,600 kilometres away. In one day! I joined the convoy of about four cars. Well, they weren't actually cars. At least not the one leading - it was a hefty truck with a trailer holding a racing car. I brought up the rear with my AlfaSud. By comparison with the leading heavyweight monster, my car was insignificant. We set off. Fast. Very, very fast. In a speed limited zone which had a 35 miles/60 km an hour limit. We were doing at least double that. Fearing I would be left behind I kept up with them.
Speeding through the city in the darkness, I noticed the traffic lights had changed to amber and then red. The group of drivers didn't slow as they got frighteningly nearer to the intersection. Then I realized they weren't stopping! I swore. We went through at least half a dozen of red lights with our feet firmly flat on the accellerator pedal! How we didn't have a collision, I don't know.
The dawn broke and we relentlessly (terrifyingly) pressed on. The roads were a mixture of tarmac and treacherously slippery gravel where it had been raining. It had. We came to some road works but the driver (who I can't name) didn't lift his foot off the gas. The problem was the road, or gravel, was barely wide enough to pass a car coming from the other way. Never mind the trucks. I watched in terror as the driver in the behemoth leading our convoy, slipping precariously in the rainy conditions, narrowly missed the oncoming heavyweight vehicles. One by one, he was lucky to miss them all. Whether by good fortune or a display of driving skills that he'd learnt on the track, I didn't know.
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I've written two books: Rough Diamonds and SOME PICNIC!
My first book Rough Diamonds is set in the sixties, and this killer read takes you to a mining village called Scallyclare in South Africa. There is deceit, evil, malice, negligence, blackmail, rape, murder. It starts when the three children's Grandfather gives them three uncut diamonds. Along with those, he gives them each a bracelet with their names engraved on. The diamonds and the bracelets become their blessings and their terrifying curses... This killer read is not for the gutless!
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“Big sky.” Athena, my wife, would say sometimes looking up at the vastness of the sky above.
“Wow, where did you get that from?” I’d asked the first time she said it.
“I felt it the first time I came to Africa. There’s just so much space and when you look out at the landscape it just seems to go on and on and on to the horizon and up into an endless sky.”
Big sky. What a profound thing to say.
This captures the feelings which we set out to achieve in Horizon's Gourmet Picnics.
My wife suggested: "We need to get a quiet little place in the mountains, where we can chill out on weekends." But the opposite happened - we ended up hectically working almost every day of the year on a picnic business with a difference.
It's a true story about Athena's and my business just outside Rosetta in the Midlands of KZN, South Africa. Follows the finding of the property (it wasn't what we had in mind...), setting up the concept for the Gourmet Picnic business, naming the place 'Horizons' (which says 'as far as you can see' and sends a message 'to stretch our guests' expectations'). Finally, selling the business.
We started with glasses of free sherry on arrival.
We walked them out of opposite end of the home, and they were impressed by the expansive views. Next, we sat them on specially made bean bags or stylish chairs at a selection of tables. Then, we offered towellettes (heated in winter and chilled in summer) to rinse their hands. We would make sure that the bar would have kept their drinks flowing.
Every dish had a 'WOW' factor. Our waitrons offered guests some snacky eats. Then, the sumptuous picnic would arrive packed in refined picnic basket containing half a dozen or so imaginative dishes. The guests ate with proper cutlery, from proper plates, drank from stylish glasses and used proper serviettes. There was plenty of ice to keep the ice buckets topped up and keep the wine chilled. After eating, they were welcome to sleep off their full bellies until they had a refreshed appetite for dessert. We found that Horizons was popular for couples that were getting engaged.
Here are some pics above and below. I'll write a separate story.
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I'd love you to review my books Rough Diamonds and SOME PICNIC! I'll give you free books to appraise. There's a bonus after the story: you can read the first chapters of my other book after the end of the book.
Won’t you also take a moment to spread the word about my books to everyone you know?
I hope you’ll take time to check them out at Smashwords, where you can sample the books for free. That's right, for FREE! But they won't be that for long.
Here’s the direct link to my book page, where you can get the books for free: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/704634
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/706474
Here’s the link to my author profile:
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ianrob222
Thank you so much for your support.
